Barbaric Latency
by MentalSustinence
Summary: A humorous story of a barbarian's life tragically ended


I walked towards the final seal awaiting the manifestation of the evil, which lurked within this hell. I touched the seal to initiate the release of the vile demon that lurked deep within the molten lava. As soon as the seal was activated it shined a radiant red light exposing the weakness of the dark. The air became hot and the stench of death drew near. Oblivion knights awaited my arrival at the end of the corridor. Even with the light, the corridor lacked light and it was difficult to see anything. I ran through them easily with my whirl-wind attack, obliterating any ounce of undead life that existed within these lost souls. They fall to the ground withering, leaving nothing but the stench of rotting flesh and bones. I opened a town portal to ensure my survival. I continued to walk towards the pentagram centered at my doom. As indescribable as it could be, I managed to believe what I saw. It was the true sight of evil. Until now I had no trouble fighting off anything that stood in my way, but this was different. I sensed a gap in time. Diablo stood there and stared at me, breathing heavily. His eyes glowed of burning ash and I could sense the intense heat from this evil incarnation. I leaped and attempted to strike him, but efforts were useless. I tried to concentrate more and more with every attack that I made, but it seemed like I haven't even made contact with his reptilian body. With my Guardian Naga Naga, I send a blow to his head… still, nothing. He just stood there staring at me. I felt weak. I gazed at his eyes, exhausted, and made my final attack, whirl-wind. I spun multiple times knowing that this attack, which I fully mastered, must have destroyed him completely, but nothing. I stare at his eyes once more, exhausted. Hours have passed and my eyes begin to burn from the immense heat. Then, all of a sudden, I felt this sharp pain throughout my body. An electric attack from the devil himself. I ran at him with a bezurk attack and still nothing. I couldn't strike this evil. Attack after Attack he pummeled me to the ground. Time moved so fast, it was as if it was catching up since the gap that I felt when I first saw the damn thing. With my last ounce of strength I rose to my feet and ran for my town portal that awaited me. I ran and saw absolutely nothing. A black wall was the only way to describe it. I couldn't move through it and couldn't get to my portal. I felt doomed as I stood that puzzled at this strange event. For some strange reason I imagined a word that I have never heard of before, "latency". I turned and Diablo stood there mocking my puzzlement. I noticed a large amount of small shining objects on the ground behind him. I managed to run past Diablo, for he was glaring at me once more. The shining objects on the ground… Stone of Jordans! Thousands upon thousands of them. I ran to pick up as many as I could, aware of the magical benefits of this unique item. Then another word of some strange language came into my mind, "dupe". I ran and attacked Diablo once more and he stood still. I'd made no contact and he still stands there still, mocking my pitiful attempts to destroy him. Immediately, my portal appeared in the darkness of that strange wall and I ran for it. Diablo ran at me with great speed attacking me so fast that I couldn't even see what was happening. I noticed I was bleeding profusely. I fell to the ground as the demon continued to attack me with no mercy. All my rings fell to the ground and another word was introduced to my mind, "hackers". As I died, I put together the three words that arose into my head. Latency… Dupe… Hackers… It all makes sense now, the black wall, the thousands of rings, and the persistence of Diablo's glare. Battle.net was the final though that went through my mind before I died. Now I remain in the debts of hell, a servant of evil. All this because of Battle.net's impotent ability to respond to hackers.  
  
----- This was a true story portrayed in a first-person perspective based on the events, which occurred on Jan. 20, 2002. Dedicated to HammerGoBamBam (lvl 56 hardcore) the barbarian who fell in a battle to save the world 


End file.
